Leslie a steadying influence on Guelph Storm blueline

A moment too late

Tony Saxon/Guelph Mercury

Guelph Storm defenceman Andrey Pedan levels London Knights forward Max Domi half a second too late as Domi scores on a rebound for what would turn out to be the winning goal Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, at Budweiser Gardens.

LONDON – For a team that has been consistency-challenged this season, the Guelph Storm’s Zac Leslie has been a rock.

The second-year blueliner has arguably been the team’s most valuable player this season. With little argument, he has been the team’s most consistent player.

Leslie played well again Saturday as the Storm came up just short in a 3-1 loss to the red-hot London Knights at Budweiser Gardens.

“I don’t know if he’s way ahead of where we thought he’d be, but he’s way ahead of where he was last year,” Storm coach Scott Walker said of the 18-year-old Leslie.

“Honestly, overall and consistency-wise, Leslie has probably been our best or one of our best defencemen, and I don’t mean any respect to Matt Finn or Andrey Pedan because I think they are two of the best in our league,” Walker said.

“He’s a very smart hockey player and is working harder than he ever has. He’s winning battles.”

The Ottawa native wasn’t with the Storm in his rookie season, but joined the team last year, recording two goals and 15 assists. This year he already has five goals and 15 assists and has been extremely solid defensively.

Passed over in last year’s NHL draft, he definitely has a chance to be drafted this June.

Leslie puts his improved play down to experience and hard work.

“I learned a lot last year what you need to do game-in and game-out – every shift to battle – and I did a lot of work in the summer to get prepared for this year knowing that I have to do that,” Leslie said.

His rookie season was definitely a learning experience.

“I think it is for everybody,” he said of the first go round. “Your playing with bigger, stronger guys and it’s definitely a change.”

The Storm knew they were going to have to play near-perfect hockey Saturday night if they had any hope of beating the Knights.

Instead they were just very good, which wasn’t enough. The win was London’s 14th in a row.

“I thought we turned in a pretty solid effort, but there were a couple of mistakes out there and you can’t make any mistakes against the best team in the league,” Walker said.

“It’s never going to be a perfect game, but against the best team it’s got to be close.”

Max Domi broke a 1-1 tie when he banged home a rebound with just over five minutes left in regulation. Bo Horvat iced it with an empty netter.

London opened the scoring in the first period when an unattended Domi beat Garret Sparks from the slot.

Justin Auger tied the game early in the second, beating Kevin Baile with a wrist shot for his ninth goal of the year.

It stayed that way for the next 30 minutes, with both goaltenders turning in solid performances.

Kyle Locke was the healthy scratch in London while Chadd Bauman injured his left leg early in the game and didn’t return.